


Behind Closed Doors

by No_Name_Attached



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Breaking and Entering, Heavy Drinking, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Oneshot, Outsider pov of a relationship, Petty, These tags make it sound just a bit darker than it is, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, clockwork and vlad are happy together, unprovoked revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 05:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/No_Name_Attached/pseuds/No_Name_Attached
Summary: The old fruitloop hasn't done anything to him or his family in months and that, Danny thought, was exactly the problem.The solution? Snooping in Vlad's house.





	Behind Closed Doors

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy~

The old fruitloop hasn't done anything to him or his family in months and that, Danny thought, was exactly the problem. 

Vlad Masters simply didn't leave them alone if he wasn't planning anything. He was probably thinking of ways to end the world or kill his dad or capture him… or something dumb like that.

Just thinking about how the old geezer was probably laughing it up in his lab while making the newest torture device with Danny’s name on it with made the young halfa angry. He wanted to take action. 

The first time Danny had dropped by uninvited to the Masters manor, it was out of spite. If Vlad wouldn't make the first move, he would. 

Sadly- for a kid wishing to punch someone in the face -the visit was bland. How could Danny ruin Vlad’s evil schemes if the man of honor wasn't even there? Danny settled for less. He knocked over a few vases and maybe he ruined a few shrubs. The petty vandalism was great and all but that was nowhere near enough payback to the billionaire. 

One unfruitful visit wasnt enough. He really did want to find what Vlad was planning and put it to rest before it made his life a hell.

Over the next two weeks, the young halfa had gave two more visits similar to this. However, these next two times he took care into actually looking for whatever Vlad was planning. Considering how Vlad had to have a fucking mansion of all housing options and the fact he had a life outside of this, Danny didn't get too much searching done out of the two visits. 

He did find one lab on the second visit. Sadly for him, it was void of anything interesting. There were a few empty beakers out on the desks but everything was covered in a layer of dust. The old billionaire wouldn't be bothered to make plans for world domination in a dusty lab so there had to be another. 

For the third visit, Danny poked his head around the upper levels until he found another interesting looking room. Fifteen minutes of searching later, he found what appeared to be a study. Bingo. Maybe this room was Vlad’s personal study, if Danny was lucky (but we all know how Danny’s luck is). 

Much to his disappointment, it didn't seem like this was what he was looking for. There were a few rather old books that Danny had little interest in whatsoever, some papers that looked like they were for Vlad’s companies, and a few odds and ends. The only out of place thing on that desk were two bloodied razors, but the hero didn't think anything of it.

The fourth visit was... interesting, to say at the least. When his ghost sense went off, he grinned. Finally he would be able to find the frootloop, which finally meant the action he had been itching for. The halfa, following his ghost sense, zipped through the halls of the mansion. His ghost sense led him to a set of wooden doors (of course it escaped Danny that these doors belonged to the office from his last visit).What was that sound from the other side? He hesitated. It was muffled and rather quiet through the heavy wooden doors, so he had a hard time telling what it was. Maybe laughter?

So, after a few seconds more of hesitation, the halfa phased through the doors, proceeding in the air for the purpose of undetected. But didn’t Vlad have a ghost sense of his own? The older halfa should already--

To his alarm, he was immediately met by the strong reek of alcohol. If he could barely stand the smell of that stuff in his human form, the enhanced senses of his ghost half left him reeling. They made it so much worse, it was so much stronger. The scent made his eyes water. How did Vlad stand it? After a minute of getting used to it, he opened his eyes and saw… dozens of empty bottles? Well duh, that smell had to have come from somewhere but by that point, Danny’s brain had still not made the connection. He took another minute to look around the room...

 

And oh...

  
  


The realization had hit him like a train when his eyes led slowly to the figure at the desk and… oh.

  
  


Oh.

  
  
  


Oh wow.

 

He didn't think- just oh. Umm okay. 

 

Vlad was sobbing. The sound was merely white noise before but now it was all Danny could hear. He was sobbing at the desk and there was bottles. Drunk. Vlad was drunk and crying.. It was so strange to see someone like his archenemy reduced to a mess like this. Vlad was supposed to be the heartless villain... Stone cold, no feelings, master manipulator... But sobbing?

He didn't want to stay any longer. No, this was- this was wrong, he shouldn't be here. This was a bad idea and now he… he stepped over the line, he crossed over a personal boundary and now his quest for petty revenge was wrong. Now Danny had the absolute privilege of knowing more than he wanted about Vlad.

Did he do this often or was this a one time deal? Was vlad okay? Well, obviously not and now that Danny thinks about it he may have not been for a long, long time but--! Danny officially was overwhelmed. Startled with the ugly reality that slapped him in the face. The questions stopped and his mind was back to ‘I SHOULDN'T BE HERE’.

The young halfa phased back through the doors and left Vlad to continue crying alone and undisturbed as if he was never even there.  
  
..

 

Danny shouldn't be here, floating on the doorstep of the manson. Danny also had a hard time learning lessons the first time. Well, this was really four going on five times.

But he really did try to stay away. 

At first, Danny really had no clue on how to handle seeing that. It felt wrong to have seen that. It felt wrong to have seen something that reminded him the half dead villian who wanted to avenge his own death was just as human as he was. It was weird to think that maybe Vlad actually needed help, that he had another set of problems outside of payback.

The visit also made him think about why Vlad would let himself get in such a state. The most prominent theory was that maybe Vlad didn't have anyone (as far as Danny knew) that cared about him. That was probably the reason why he did a few of the things he did. For an example, creating multiple clones he tried to raise as children. Vlad had watched all of those clones dissolve too...

Danny almost felt guilty. Wait, it was more like pity and- Oh great. Now he was pitying the villain.

So at a loss as to what to do, Danny had waited for something to happen. What was he waiting for? For Vlad to pop out of nowhere saying ‘April Fools’ and have a good laugh with him? For Vlad to return to making his life a living hell? 

Danny waited for over a month. Radio silence. No new schemes. No new stirrings in the Ghost Zone. No news stories about the Billionaire’s latest success. Nothing. 

So, there he was again, phasing through the doors of Vlad’s manson. 

He picked up something with his ghost sense and absentmindedly began following it. So Vlad was here. This wasn't a good idea. Danny really didn't know how he managed to convince himself to go poking around in Vlad’s business again. 

 

Well, too late to turn back. 

 

Danny found himself at a door.

 

It was a different door, he noted, than the one that lead to the study. It had been left slightly open and it seemed to be heavier, more ornate. The young halfa was hesitating now. 

After last time did he really want to see what was on the other side? 

Fuck it. He opened this can of worms and now he had to lay in it, Danny supposed.

 

He put an ear up to the door. He couldn't hear much. There WAS something in there but he couldn't distinguish anything… Did Danny really want to do this? 

The question was stupid by that point. Redundant too. Just like the thought that this wasn't a good idea. Both were valid lines of thought but Danny was often one to ignore common sense.

 

He peeked through the cracked door for less than a second.

 

There was Vlad, for one, sitting upright in a nest of sheets with his back turned to the door. And then there was someone else holding Vlad. Not in a just-two-bros-cuddling-each-other kind of way but in a more I-dont-really-want-sex-right-now-but-I-want-to-give-you-attention kind of way. Of anything was a testament to that, it was how the blue-skinned ghost was kissing Vlad’s scarred arm while making the other laugh. 

 

_Vlad was laughing and looking genuinely happy curled up with that other man._

 

Well, needless to say, Danny wasn't prepared to see Vlad just chilling in bed with a ghost he recognized, of all things. Of all the things Vlad had been up to lately, finding a partner was the last thing Danny would have guessed. Well he was assuming alot of things here but he couldn't really think of anything else this could be. 

It felt so surreal to Danny.

Before he could poke his nose into anything else that strictly was not his business, the young Halfa whipped away from the door and bulleted out of the mansion and to his own home. He was probably going to be in shock about this for weeks.

 

Maybe he will even go as far as to say he learned not to pry behind closed doors. 

**Author's Note:**

> I consider myself more of an artist than a writer but i love the Rich History pairing and i believe it needs more attention so i did a thing


End file.
